Hale VanKoughnett arrived in Warsaw as Consul General in September 2021. He has had assignments in Ciudad Juarez, Paris, Santo Domingo, Brussels, Seoul, Manila, Washington, Quebec City (where he served as Consul General), and Ho Chi Minh City (where he was Countrywide Consular Coordinator).

In 2013 he earned a master’s degree in strategic studies at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He was promoted into the Senior Foreign Service in 2015. He received a B.A. from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, in 1985 and an M.A. in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, in 1988. He speaks Spanish, French, Vietnamese, and Polish.

He and his wife, Diane, have two adult sons. He is an avid runner and a fan of Chicago sports teams.